Pika Fanon:Manual of style

This is an instruction manual that addresses the conventions adopted by Pikafanon in writing, titles, articles, and linking. Please read it before you contribute to the wiki. Note, however, that this document is not updated frequently; survey prevailing conventions as well as reading these guidelines.

This manual attempts to address all issues of style in an objective manner, though there are inevitably cases where issues of style are subjective. If there are any unresolved disputes over what best adheres to the style of Bulbapedia, please contact the editorial board.

Contents

Besides writing articles on the wiki on factual, useful information, contributors are expected to use decent spelling and grammar and a basic level of wikicode. Some of the most commonly used aspects of wikicode are listed below. Should you forget, above the text editors for articles are a row of buttons with many common wikicode attributes.

Text formatting: To make text bold, put three apostrophes on either side of it, such as '''Pikafanon'''. This will result in Pikafanon. However, bold text is mostly used to define the name of the subject matter at the start of an article or for any notes which need a very large amount of emphasis. For a normal emphasis, it is common style to put text in italics, which is done with two apostrophes instead of three, such as ''Pikafanon''. This will result in Pikafanon.

Links: Whenever something else is referenced in an article which has its own article on the Bulbapedia, be sure to link to it. This is done by putting two brackets on either side of a word. For example, [[Pokémon]] will result in Pokémon. However, sometimes there's no way to use the exact name of an article in a sentence without the sentence being awkwardly-worded. In these instances, to have different text display than the article's name, put a vertical pipe between the article's name and the text you would like to display. For example, [[Pokémon|Pocket Monsters]] will result in Pocket Monsters, which you may notice links to the Pokémon article.

Short links: There are several quick links which are not only useful, but common style. For example, when linking to a Pokémon article on Bulbapedia, typing {{bp|Pikachu}} would result in Pikachu, which you may notice links to the article Pikachu (Pokémon).

Pikachu

Images: Images are added in a manner similar to links. To add in an image, link to the image's name, but add in "File:" before the name. For example, [[File:Ash's Pikachu.png]] will add in the image. Formatting attributes can be added to an image as well, divided with vertical lines. For example, [[File:Ash's Pikachu.png|thumb|100px|Pikachu]] will add the image to the right.

Categories: Categories are also added in a manner similar to Links. To categorize an article, link to the category's name, but add in "Category:" before the name. For example, [[Category:Pokémon world]] would add this article to Category:Pokémon world. To link to a category and not add the article to the category, add in an extra colon before the name, like [[:Category:Pokémon world]], or alternately, use the {{cat}} template. All articles should be categorized.

Headlines: Articles are divided by levels of headlines, much like a large outline. These are indicated by equals signs on either side of the headline text. There are six levels of headlines, with one equals sign being the first and highest level, which would look like =Headline text=, and six equals signs being the sixth and lowest level, which would look like ======Headline text======. First and second level headlines are underlined. Text size decreases with lower level headlines.

Lists: There are two major ways to do lists.

Bulleted lists: To create a bulleted list, put an asterisk before each item. For example:

* Bulbasaur
* Charmander
* Squirtle
* Pikachu

Will become:

Bulbasaur

Charmander

Squirtle

Pikachu

Definition lists: To create a list with definitions, put a semicolon before each item, and a colon before the details on each item. For example:

A colon will indent the start of any other line as well, and multiple colons can be used for multiple indents. However, indents should only be used for data formatting, and should not be used to start paragraphs within an article. Indents are also used on talk pages to indicate a reply.

Tables: Tables are started and ended with a curled bracket and a vertical line. Rows can be divided with a vertical line and a dash, and sections within rows can be divided with vertical lines. Title headings can be indicated with exclamation points rather than vertical lines. For example:

Formatting attributes can also be added to the table. The first row attributes apply to the whole table. Attributes on the lines with vertical lines and dashes apply to the row. Attributes for just one cell can be put before the content, divided with another vertical line. For example:

The conventions for titles dictate that all proper nouns are capitalized, as are all locations, and names unless specifically not capitalized. Titles are not written like book titles with most words capitalized (unless the article is about a book); note the title of this page as Manual of style, not Manual of Style.

Uniformity in the titling of pages is much appreciated in that it makes for a much more professional appearance with regards to the public perception of Bulbapedia. Any page title that includes a name should not be stored in a biographical format; i.e., "Gary Oak", not "Oak, Gary" as the page title for Ash's rival. In cases where only a first name (Bill) exists, or where a character is known by a title (such as Professor Oak) more than their proper name, those should be used as the sole title of the page. In the case of Professor Oak, redirects from "Prof. Oak" and "Samuel Oak" may be used.

In most cases, titles referring to a specific group should be kept singular, such as item rather than items. However, some exceptions are allowed when the group name is plural, such as Eevee brothers rather than Eevee brother.

Also, only link to an article once within a given portion of text; if you say "Ash" more than once in a paragraph, only link it the first time. Instances further apart may be linked to more than once, it is up to you how far apart to place repeated links. For consistency, if most elements of a list are links, then link to an article as many times as needed in that list.

Japanese titles should be romanized in titles, but see the following sections for details.

The e-acute (é) is always used in a title where appropriate; pages are titled "Pokémon", not "Pokemon." When the é is used in a title, for instance in Pokémon or Pokédex, please create a redirect from the title that doesn't have the accented é. Pokedex redirects to Pokédex, for instance; this allows for people who don't know how to add the special characters in the search bar the same access as the rest of us. The same would apply for any other special characters that may occur in a title.

With regards to romanized Japanese titles, omit macrons and apostrophes in the title (but create redirects from the accurate romanization if you so desire).

Naming conventions in Pikafanon have been determined to go by English names of characters unless a character does not currently have an English name. Redirects from Japanese names should be created in order to alleviate confusion.

Formerly, the style was to name articles based on whichever name a character was most "well known by". However, this created debate as to who judges which name is most commonly known, and thus created unnecessary conflict given how rarely a character is known to the English-speaking fanbase more commonly by anything but their English name. Hence, the style has since been abandoned.

An article titled with a Pokémon name with a very well known instance in any form of canon should have a disambiguation page. For example, due to Meowth (Team Rocket) being extremely well-known, a disambiguation page exists at Meowth (disambiguation).

All modern persons should have their name given in Western order. Since the definition of "modern" may vary from culture to culture, for the Japanese, all names from the Taishō period onwards should be given in Western order. Names from the Meiji restoration may be given in Western or Eastern order -- use prevailing convention on a person-by-person basis. Names prior to the Meiji restoration should be given in Eastern order.